On Becoming a Methodist

This is the second post about my faithcation (scroll down to see the first.)
So the journey started ...we had our first class this week. Our teacher started class by asking, "why did you become a Methodist???" Uh Oh!

We all had to go around the room and share our story on becoming a Methodist. Now I am by no means shy and rarely speechless but I was both. After all, I didn't think I had actually chose to become a Methodist and I wasn't sure it was okay to say so aloud in a room full of Methodists and a Methodist minister. For me, this isn't about becoming a Methodist per se. It is about following God's plan and it appears God's plan for me includes becoming a Methodist. But I don't want anyone to get caught up in that part. This is about exploring your faith, no matter what denomination you are or aren't.

Luckily, I was near last in the rotation. By the time it was my turn I learned most of the room hadn't chosen to be a Methodist either. They were led there by a spouse or parents or by a bus in one case. So it was okay to say I too was led there. It seems most people didn't become a Methodist on purpose. But in their stories and mine I certainly see God's purpose operating.
I laugh to think of God as a modern novelist. I read a lot and have read several "prize winning, critically acclaimed" books. (Only because they have big stickers on them that draw my attention or because they are on Oprah...) Inevitably those books are 3-4 inches thick with tiny print and contain so much seemingly irrelevant detail. To us the details are irrelevant and lead nowhere. But to the critics eye, it is the detail that makes the novel a literary accomplishment because it isn't irrelevant at all if you can follow all of it (which a great deal of the time I can't). So as I heard every one's stories it reminded me that God is like the modern novelist. We are his works and every detail matters. God leads us in great and tiny ways.

Our teacher did a great job leading us that night to realize it isn't about why we became a Methodist but helped us to see that since our faithcation has brought us to this destination or denomination, we might want to have a look around and see what being a Methodist is all about.

This is my story on becoming a Methodist...
For me it was a seemingly unrelated decision involving my son's childcare. After staying home for about 6 months, I returned to work and needed child care for 2 days a week. I found a 5 star state of the art daycare. The absolute best in the area. For the first week I cried each time I left him and visited 3 times each day just to check in. I was a nervous wreck but chalked it up to separation anxiety and a nervous new parent. Two more weeks went by and I could not find peace with him there. One day my husband picked him up at daycare and happen to mention that our son didn't seem like himself. That was it. I never took him back. The voice in my head had been whispering at me and I just wasn't listening.
Let me be clear, the daycare was wonderful, the people there were wonderful, and for the short 6 days my son was there they took exceptional care of him. But it just wasn't where we were supposed to be. So I was in quiet a predicament over my son's care. As many of you know, it is very difficult to find part time daycare. So I called a local church and the director informed me they could do two days but their program was only half days 9-12. She told me that parents' night was that very night and invited me to come check out the program. So I wasn't sure how or even if we could make half days work but desperate my husband and I went to parents' night. The minute I walked into their fellowship hall I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace and comfort. That voice in my head whispered "this is the place". So we enrolled our son and with a willing grandma who shifted her schedule we made the half days work.

So what in the world does that have to do with becoming a Methodist? Well that church is the very Methodist church where I am now studying to become a lay pastor. Don't forget, I didn't just change churches. I didn't go to church at all and I didn't go on purpose. So a decision that had nothing to do with my faith and everything to do with my son, had the unlikely consequence of me becoming a Methodist. God was writing this chapter long before I was aware of it. Ever heard the saying, "the devil is in the details?"... Well I beg to differ.